Monday, June13

   We put on our traveling shoes last weekend and headed out for high adventure.  My musical compadre' Paul G asked if I'd mind playing a little dobro and Hawaiian steel on his upcoming CD, and being the musical sleaze bag that most musicians are, I agreed to give it a shot.  We rendezvoused at a secret location and  made our way to the studio in the woods.  Things went well and we were treated like royalty by our hosts.   It's been my experience that people involved in artistic persuits are the best folks in the world.  I'm sure there are a few exceptions to this rule, but they are few and far between.
   After we accomplished our recording goals and said our goodbyes to our hosts we headed for our weekend hide out in Gold Head Branch State Park.  A great park I'd never visited before, great hiking trails and I imagine at one time some beautiful lakes.  The sad state of the water shortage in Florida is painfully obvious by looking at all the dried up lake beds in this part of the state.  This area is supposed to be the recharging point for the states aquifer, if that's true, we're in worse shape than I thought.  It's a great place to visit just the same, and checking out the ravine is like going back to the stone age.
     We had some folks renting the cabin next to us who thought that all the nature was just a little to quiet for them, so they cranked up their boom box with some urban wildlife noises of their own.   We played it cool and let the party continue until it burned itself out, that or the ranger finally showed up and made them turn off their booty caller.  Just amazing!
   Until next time, keep your sense of humor intact!

Day Ninety Seven

  Not much to report today.  I worked on some recording stuff in the morning then worked down at the cabinet shop for about half the day.  

    I think the whole world is moving in slow motion these days.  Every project I've started lately is dragging on waiting for materials to be delivered.  I think the economy has got suppliers running inventories close to the bone.  And I saw an article today saying the Florida real estate market wont get back to 2006 prices until 2030!  Holy crap Marie, we're in for the long haul.  I think I'm going to buy some stock in Spam and Beanie Weenies, those items will be staples soon.  

Until tomorrow, here's your daily dose of wisdom:

    When you come to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on. 

Franklin D. Roosevelt

Day Seventy One

I haven't had a chance to sit down and work on any tunes for a few days now, I'm starting to get a little irritated with this working for a living.  I was really enjoying the freedom of unemployment, it gave me time to actually think.  Once you come to the realization that you could keel over at anytime, working just to pay the bills seems like a real waste of valuable time.   I guess I should have pondered all of this as a younger man.
    I'm hoping to get a new tune wrapped up and posted to the blog this week.  That was my original intention of putting the player on here.  If I can get some time to work in the studio, I should be able to get it done.   If I'm not abducted by aliens again!
 Until tomorrow, here's your daily dose of wisdom:

  You cannot prevent the birds of sorrow from flying over your head, but you can prevent them from building nests in your hair.
  Kung fu Proverb

Day Sixty

I was abducted by aliens!  Yes, it's true, what other reason could there be for not posting on Friday.  Fortunately they returned me in reasonably good condition, they decided I was to old a specimen to do them any good.  So after a couple minor probes and a spin around the earth they dropped me off at home.  I  don't  think I'll report this to the authorities, they have a way of making you look crazy when you try  to explain things like this.  I've seen enough movies to know the drill.  
   The weekend went well, and I squeezed in a little music.  Bob "Guitar" Bronar came over and we worked off some of the rust, and there was plenty.  We're going to be doing a dynamic duo gig in October, so we thought it would be a good idea to work some material up for that.
    Today I managed to sit down and record a new tune.  It gave me some trouble initially, but I managed to tame it.  When I finally got everything done to my satisfaction I was listening back and heard this strange tinkling noise in one place on the guitar tracks.  Apparently the UPS guy dropped off a package while I was recording the guitar part, and rang the door bell.  Thanks Mr. UPS!  I couldn't hear it ring because I was wearing headphones at the time.   I guess I'll have to do it again tomorrow.
   Until tomorrow, here's your daily words of wisdom:

  Every path has some puddles.
   Hillbilly Wisdom

Day Forty Eight

The primaries are finally over, and not a moment to soon.  Now to prepare for the full blown, dirt slinging, dog kicking, cat scratching mid term elections.  I have to question the sanity of anyone who would want to get involved in such a demeaning contest.  Which pretty much explains why we've got the assortment of knuckleheads we've got running our country.  Egomaniacs and sociopaths, or as some like to refer to them, Democrats and Republicans.
     I got to squeeze in a little recording to day.  There was an electric guitar part that I wasn't completely satisfied with, so I thought I'd do a little touch up on it.  It worked out just as planned.  I set up a region to punch it in on a track that contained a couple short guitar passages that weren't in the way of where I needed to record.  I recorded it twice and grabbed the best take to replace the original track I needed to fix. Abracadabra there you have it.  A slight volume adjustment and it slipped right in like it belonged there.  I love it when a plan comes together.
Until tomorrow, here's your daily dose of wisdom:

"A low voter turnout is an indication of fewer people going to the polls." 
George W Bush
  

Day Forty Seven

As the economy slowly implodes, we may find that the things we thought were so important are just meaningless garbage, rammed down our throats by some corporate advertiser.  Think about all the things we are tied into, the internet, cell phones, cable/satellite TV, mortgages, car payments, credit cards.  We're so hooked up we can't even imagine putting an antenna back on the roof and receiving only twelve channels of garbage instead of the typical one hundred channels of garbage you get on cable.  Someone is getting rich off of our inability to think for ourselves, and I can guarantee you, they're already rich enough.  It's time to look in the mirror, and try not to think about that crazy new gunk that makes your eye lashes longer and more glamorous, that may or may not cause blindness, and be thankful for the simple things.
Yes, it's time to get off the merry go round and onto solid ground.   Can I get an Amen?
   All right now, back to business.  I laid down some more vocal tracks  today using the new mic.  After finding the sweet spot and adjusting the pre-amp slightly, it really shines.  I think this is a keeper.  It brings the vocals out in the mix without pushing the volume.  Mucho Gusto!
Well that's enough for today, here's your daily words of wisdom:

“The gap in our economy is between what we have and what we think we ought to have - and that is a moral problem, not an economic one.”

Paul Heyne

Day Forty Six & Weekend Update

Sorry I didn't have a Friday report, but the band was playing a gig in Eustis that evening.  So I'll just have to squeeze four days worth of crap into one report.
      Friday we played the State Theatre as part of a fund raiser for the Lake County Folk Festival along with Jonathon Hodge, fiddle player extraordinaire accompanied by Larry Dolamore and Cyd Ward, super songstress, doing the solo thing.  It was a fun evening and we wrapped it up with one of those super sonic everyone on stage Ashley Gang sing alongs.   Good times.
    Saturday we hung out at our favorite retreat, Joel and Margie's house of refuge, and ate ourselves into a coma.  Then prepared for our gig at Olivia's Coffee House.  Another wonderful evening of music, car crashes and a lot of laughs.  The folks in Eustis spoiled us rotten, no wonder we love that place.  Make sure to check out Olivia's if your ever in the area, they're not just a coffee house, they have some really great food there as well.
    Then there's today, back to the grind.  I'm still working on the Palm Beach project, but it's nearing completion.  The bad news is once it's done I'll have to go back to the devils lair to deliver it, lord protect me!
   The new microphone arrived today, it's a beautiful thing.  I set it up and ran a test track to make sure it was in good working order, all is well.  I'll need to work with it for a little while to get familiar with it's sound characteristics, but I think it's going to get me a little closer to recording nirvana.
  That's it for now,  here's your daily dose of wisdom:

"If I were two-faced, would I be wearing this one?"
- Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865)

Day Thirty Four

Today I delivered the super sonic rolling TV cart, and it was met with rave reviews.  Yes, another happy customer.  It was a heavy duty project designed to match some heavy duty shelves in this house.  The top and bottom were made of a double width of 2 x 12, glued and clamped together with 2 x 4 mending plates on the bottom side.  The corner post were made of 2 x 4.  Everything was lag bolted together and then I put some heavy duty casters on the bottom.  I made the mistake of building it on the workbench, which seemed like a good idea until I realized I was going to have to set it on the ground by myself.  I'm thinking this thing weighed about 120 pounds, but I managed with only minor back injuries.  I'm glad that one is history.  I've determined that playing music is a lot less physically demanding than building things, and probably just as profitable.
     I did a little recording in the studio, cleaning up some vocal tracks.  I've been using an Avalon 737 mic pre amp for a little while now, and I'm really liking what it does to the vocals.  I was a bit apprehensive at first about spending the money on it, but I'm glad now that I did.  It really has made a difference in the tracks I've used it on.
  Until Tomorrow, here's your daily dose of wisdom:

Let's hope you feel better now.
Jack Kevorkian 

Day Twenty Seven

I had some time to work on the pirate song today, I think the kids are going to love it.  I'm still refining my recording process and a song like this is great to experiment with.  My concept is to record the song all the way through doing the guitar and vocal simultaneously, like a live performance.  Then I set up two new tracks and record the guitar part in stereo with no vocal track while monitoring the original tracks.  This way I can follow the original tracks so I don't get lost, and when I'm done the two new tracks are just the rhythm tracks with no vocal.   After that I can re-record the vocal a few times and piece together the best takes.  While it may sound like a pain in the ass, the Logic program makes it quite easy to accomplish.  And the results are well worth the effort.
   In other news today, my lawn was diagnosed to have chinch bugs!  Yes, those little bastards have been doing a number on my yard for some time now, and I just couldn't take it anymore.  I called in the cavalry!
I hate the idea of squirting poison all over the yard, but at this point, it's me or them.  And I'm not going anywhere.
   That about wraps up another day in the life.  Until tomorrow.
 
Your Daily Words of Wisdom:

Johnny Mercer: "I could eat alphabet soup and s**t better lyrics." 

  

Day Four

Another day in paradise! Today I talked with my favorite web designer, we're working out the technical details of the new web site. It's amazing how many stupid ideas I can come up with and never even break a sweat. She usually gets me back on track quickly by telling me what a dork I am. I guess we all need reminding of that once in a while.
I worked a little bit in the studio on a guitar part for the song I recorded on Monday. It usually takes me a little bit of screwing around with a tune before I really know where it's going. I think I'm still in the screwing around phase on this one.
I received a contract for one of our July gigs today, yes, a contract. We don't usually have this kind of paper work to deal with. We normally tell people we'll do something, and they say OK, and that's it. I'd say we have a pretty impressive record when it comes to showing up and doing what we said we'd do. But a contract makes it feel like your really important, people assume you have a legal department that takes care of these kind of things. That you have attorneys on retainer to cross your T's and dot your I's. Truth is, we just sign on the dotted line and hope for the best.
So I think I'll head back into the studio and do some more noodling. You never know when the noodle God is going to smile down on you. But you better be ready.

Day Two

This is going to be worse than I thought!! Just kidding, I have survived day two with only minor injuries. Let's see, I registered the new domain for the studio,
"Pretzelstickstudio.com". I need to get my fantabulous web designer involved now. Fortunately for me, my favorite daughter, Chrissy, is the worlds finest web designer.
www.bringthebling.com
My next mission was to meet with a perspective client about the details of a recording project. I sensed a definite fear of commitment on his part. This is going to be like nailing jello to a wall. But I shall draw on my many years of experience in dealing with the artistic type, and tell him, it's time to either shit or get off the pot. An old saying my dear Mother used to use. It always worked on me. I'll let you know later how this worked out.
I also confirmed a gig for the band, (The Ashley Gang) in August, and made contact on another one for July.
I managed in between all of this to sit down and record some tracks for a new song. I think it's going to be a winner.
Until Tomorrow